Deal Radar 2009: Wirkle

By Guest Author Shailesh Otari

Wirkle is a mobile consulting firm specializing in the end-to-end development of mobile applications. The company provides application development (both client- and server-side) on a host of platforms such as the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. Applications range from social networking to enterprise productivity. The company was founded by Varun Khurana, Sunil Goyal, and Lomesh Dutta in 2005. >>>

Deal Radar 2009: Orangescape

By Guest Author Shailesh Otari

Orangescape is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) company from India that facilitates business application development. Orangescape is essentially a production environment that allows techno-functional experts to convert their ideas into business applications and take them to market. The platform is provided through a cloud offering and caters to the needs of both entrepreneurs and enterprises. The public cloud offering is for entrepreneurs who are functional experts in a business domain and want to develop their ideas. Orangescape helps them to build, test, and launch their applications free and charges a percentage of their revenues when they go live. The private cloud offering is for enterprises who want to build specific applications. >>>

Helping You Book Vacation Rentals: FlipKey CEO T. J. Mahoney (Part 5)

SM: What were your statistics after you had completed your deal with TripAdvisor and gained access to 32 million users?

TM: As of today there are 110,000 properties on the FlipKey TripAdvisor vacation rental network, and over 150,000 guest reviews. We have by far the largest collection of authentic reviews in the industry. >>>

How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 5)

SM: When did you first see significant decline in your growth?

PB: Our growth slowed dramatically in 2006 and remained that way in 2007. We lost a lot of money those years. It took us a little while to figure out that it was not just computer malfunctions. >>>

Catching Up On Readings: Deal Radar Blitz

Readers, I would like to hear from you if you are an Indian startup and have hit the $1 million milestone. Please email Shailesh Otari [shaileshotari.mba AT gmail.com] with your information. Shailesh is working with me with a specific focus on Indian startups. For the latest installments of Deal Radar and the rest of this week’s posts, click on the full article.
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How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 4)

SM: Did you go public on the strength of the bankruptcy inventory?

PB: No, that inventory was in 2000 and 2001. By the time we went public, bankruptcy inventories were not carrying us. We had the Safeway deal, and we had stable lines of supply. >>>

Helping You Book Vacation Rentals: FlipKey CEO T. J. Mahoney (Part 4)

SM: How did you initially populate your reviews? Did you crawl the Web for those as well?

TM: No, the reviews came from guests. We had created the accounts for the property managers, but in order for them to use our service effectively they had to upload guest records, which allowed us to invite guests via a personal email to provide a recommendation of the exact home that they stayed in. >>>

How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 3)

SM: What was the source of your own financing?

PB: We were turned down by 55 venture capitalists. I do not intend for that to be a dig at them. In retrospect, I have a much more positive view of the venture capital industry than I did back then. That just tells you how bad of a salesman I am. >>>